Cheapest Form 5472 Filing Service 2026: Full Price Comparison

When you strip away the marketing, every provider files the same two documents: Form 5472 and the pro forma Form 1120 it attaches to. The IRS does not charge for either one, so the entire price is the preparer’s fee. That makes the comparison simple — you are paying for accuracy, review, and the filing being sent correctly by the deadline.

The full side-by-side, including what each tier includes, is on the Form 5472 cost comparison page. If you only care about the bottom line, the pricing page shows the flat $299 fee with nothing hidden.

doola, Firstbase, and Stripe Atlas are formation companies. Their business model is the recurring annual subscription, and Form 5472 is one line item inside a much larger bundle. That is why a single information return ends up costing four to six times what a dedicated filer charges. You are not buying a cheaper Form 5472 — you are buying a year of services you may not need.

If you are paying a platform purely for the filing, switching to a specialist is the single biggest saving. Our blog covers whether you even need an annual compliance service at all, and why your formation service should not be your tax filer.

Some competitors advertise a teaser rate, then split the cost into a base price plus an IRS submission fee plus an active-entity fee. By the time the LLC actually had a reportable transaction — which almost all do — the real cost is far higher than the headline. Read the checkout fine print, not the hero banner.

The CLAUDE accuracy rule we hold ourselves to is simple: one price, no “base price plus fees.” See exactly what is included on the pricing page, or start on the apply page.

The IRS charges nothing to file Form 5472, so technically the cheapest path is doing it yourself. The catch is that the form is unforgiving. A foreign-owned disregarded entity has no e-file route at all; the pro forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 attached must be mailed or faxed, and it must arrive by the deadline. Miss a box, transpose an EIN, or send it late, and the penalty is automatic.

The math on a $25,000 mistake

The penalty is $25,000 per form, per year, with no cap and no statute of limitations under IRC §6038A(d) and §6501(c)(8). If the IRS issues a 90-day notice and the form still is not filed, another $25,000 accrues every 30 days. A flat $299 fee to have it prepared and reviewed correctly is a rounding error next to that exposure. For the full rule, see our blog on the annual compliance checklist for foreign LLC owners.

The deadline is the 15th day of the 4th month after the tax year ends — April 15 for a calendar-year LLC. A timely Form 7004 pushes the filing deadline six months to October 15. Because a disregarded entity owes no entity-level tax, the extension is purely about giving you time to file the information return correctly. The price to have a specialist file does not change whether you act in January or October — but the penalty risk climbs the moment a deadline passes unfiled.

Foreign owners often confuse Form 5472 with BOI reporting. Under FinCEN’s March 2025 interim final rule, US-formed entities — including foreign-owned US LLCs — are exempt from BOI; only foreign reporting companies file. Form 5472 is entirely separate and still required every year. Disregarded entities have been treated as corporations for this reporting since 2017 under T.D. 9796.

The cheapest service is only a bargain if the filing is right. A flat $299 buys the full job: preparation of both documents, a specialist review, and the filing sent by mail or fax with proof retained. There is no active-entity surcharge, no separate IRS fee, and no annual subscription that renews whether you use it or not.

We do not offer penalty-abatement or IRS representation — that requires separate credentials. What we do is file the return correctly the first time so the penalty never comes up. Compare every tier on the cost comparison page when you are ready.

If your LLC is foreign-owned and you have ever moved money into it — a capital contribution, a formation-fee reimbursement, a loan — you almost certainly have a reportable transaction and must file. The people who benefit most from a paid service are first-time filers, owners outside the US who cannot easily mail or fax to Austin, and anyone who values certainty over saving an afternoon.

If you are still deciding whether you even need ongoing help, our blog weighs whether an annual compliance service is worth it. For most single-member LLCs, a flat-fee specialist for the one filing that carries a $25,000 penalty is the cheapest insurance you can buy.